Zimbabwe’s Move to Compensate White Farmers May Antagonize Everyone

One of the promises Emmerson Mnangagwa made after becoming Zimbabwe’s president in late 2017 was to reach a compromise on one of the most divisive issues in the country: how to compensate the estimated 4,500 white farmers whose property was violently expropriated under Robert Mugabe. But Mnangagwa’s attempts to take a more conciliatory tone risk creating new divisions and reopening old wounds. Mnangagwa is trying to strike a nearly impossible balance, treating the land seizures under Mugabe’s so-called fast track land reform program as “irreversible” while offering “appropriate compensation” to dispossessed white farmers, but only for improvements they made to the land and infrastructure they installed before the land was seized.

Mnangagwa considers this blend of principle and pragmatism to be a logical extension of his post-Mugabe reforms, through which he hopes to mend fences with Western countries that largely broke off ties after the land seizures started in 2000. Better ties will help rehabilitate Zimbabwe internationally and draw foreign investment back to the country to revive an economy that collapsed under Mugabe. Unfortunately for Mnangagwa, however, things are rarely so simple, and several obstacles still stand in the way. It will be difficult for him to straddle these divisions and satisfy each of the constituencies with an interest in the outcome: the former farmers themselves, the ruling ZANU-PF party and the West. ...

Get unlimited access to must-read news, analysis and opinion from top experts.
Subscribe to World Politics Review and you'll receive instant access to 9,000+ articles in the World Politics Review Library, along with new
comprehensive analysis every weekday . . . written by leading topic experts.